St. John’s routs turnover-prone Good Counsel

Football: Falcons turn the ball over three times, give up five sacks

by Harvey ValentineSpecial to The Gazette

By Harvey Valentine

The Our Lady of Good Counsel High School football game against St. John’s College High School was not one of the area sporting events postponed by rain Friday night. The Falcons might be wishing it was.

Quarterback Will Ulmer rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown, and running back Omar Garcia scored twice as the Cadets routed the Falcons 31-6 in the rain at Good Counsel.

“The difference was probably (Ulmer),” Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy said. “We couldn’t tackle the kid and he’s a great player. We knew he was great and he’s better than I even thought.”

The Falcons turned the ball over three times and quarterback Andres Castillo was sacked five times.

Chris Dawson rushed for 73 yards on 17 carries, well below his 6.9 yard average per carry coming in.

“Today just wasn’t our day,” he said. “They played a tremendous game.”

St. John’s rushed for more than 200 yards and added 94 through the air.

“I think our kids executed pretty well in all three aspects,” said St. John’s coach Joe Patterson, who got a Gatorade shower to go with the rain. “I thought we came up with some timely takeaways and took advantage of our opportunities.”

Trailing 17-6 at halftime, the Falcons drove from their own 20 to the Cadet 38 to open the second half before turning it over on downs.

St. Johns punted, but Joe Giglio pinned the Falcons on their 11. On second and 11 from the 10, Castillo was picked off by Omar Truitt for the second time. Four plays later Garcia (15 carries for 85 yards) ran it in from the 6-yard line.

Castillo, under pressure all night, finished 7 of 17 for 105 yards and two interceptions.

“They came with a lot of heat and we didn’t block very well up front. I don’t know why,” Milloy said. “By (later) tonight I’ll know, but I don’t know right now. We were just missing people.”

Keon Paye returned the ensuing kick from his goal line to midfield, but the ball was stripped as he was being brought down and St. John’s recovered.

Ulmer, who gained 90 yards on his first three carries of the game, eventually closed out the 11-play drive when he bulled his way in from a yard out with 7:32 left in the game.

“The zone read, for me, was working good. The power game was working well. Everything was working good,” he said of the St. John’s offense.

Ulmer’s 45-yard run the game’s opening possession made it first and goal at the 1-yard line. Garcia eventually scored and the Cadets led 7-0.

Good Counsel responded with its best drive of the night, mixing passes and runs to go 56 yards in 11 plays. Dawson carried the final yard for the score, but the extra point failed.

St. John’s answered with a 47-yard field goal by Giglio early in the second quarter, and St. John’s Scotty Washington closed out the first half scoring when he went 14 yards with a pass from Billy McCaffrey.